Fixing the limo & Jane's fashion notes

Anyone who dug at Crickley will recall Terry Courtney's passion for limousines: he rarely appeared with less than 2. Jane Dineen stands by highly amused in this Anna Collinge 1980 photo of Mr Courtney trying to get one of his limos going again after some mechanical or electrical collapse. Assisting Terry are Jane Fitt and Julie-Ann Souter and C-H-M in person. What I am doing trying to help is not entirely clear to me as my knowledge of car engines is not fantastic now and was certainly non-existent then. Maybe I was getting Terry to talk me through it.

Jane writes: "Me in 1980 demonstrating an early fascination with engines. Fashion notes: I think that's a black silk t-shirt that I eventually wore to bits, and a little purse (who was that designer with the lion?) that I still have. I don't wear flip-flops now but apparently did then (I guess Dr. Scholl's weren't easy to find in the '80s). I love the other Jane's pink overall/dungarees. And the ultimate accessory (even when momentarily disabled), the Vanden Plas limo." Lucy Loveridge supplies the answer: "I think Ann Klein used the lion as her logo back then. Very high fashion." Jane: "That's it!"

Why were all the desks outside?

And here is an altogether mystifying tableau from Dr Phillpotts's album for 1983. The troops all seemed quite cheerful, left to right, ?, ?, Jane Fitt, Julie Fissenden, Ros Cleal, Dave Southwood and Nick Snashall. I'm inclined to think that this photograph was taken on a Thursday morning, based on the fact that nobody is wearing their digging clothes and considering the angle of the shadows. But I cannot account for the multitude of desks sitting outside behind them. Can anyone remember? I assume that the little bags attached to the line with clothes pegs contain Frank Green's soil samples.

Party night in 1980

I rather suspect that a dig party was combined with the Personality of the Year and the Mr Crickley and Ms Crickley competitions. Variously depicted above Arwel Barrett, Sarah Murphy, Jane Dineen, Julian Parker, Louise Austin, Dave Fine, Mike Taylor, John Parry, David Southwood, Ros Cleal, Jim Gale, Julie-Ann Souter, Training, and Jane Fitt. it looks as though Arwel is trying to remove what little remained of my hair even in those days.

Miss Crickley 1980 ...

Jane Dineen says that the inscription by someone else on the back, slightly interpreted by me, reads: "Birmingham girl, Jane [Dineen], Anna [Collinge], Ros [Cleal], Jane [Fitt], Suzie the Cook; Front row: Gloria [Polizotti], Sharon the mouth, Julie Ann [Souter], Sue, ?." This cheerful group were the contestants in the 1980 'Miss Crickley' competition held at Ullenwood. Some may feel that the holding of such competitions tended towards a trifle of political incorrectness (and that would never do ...): but we always held a 'Mr Crickley' competition as well, and the 'Personality of the Year' competition was, of course, open to both sexes. Dungarees were commoner than bikinis it would appear. Dr Ferris would have me believe, doubtless, that one year the skeleton painted on a bit of hardboard was a contestant: he's probably right. Update: Dr Ferris opines: "I might be able to help Crickley Hill Man in identifying one of the 1980 'Miss Crickley' contestants, beyond informing him that I'm sure they were all sincerely working for 'world peace'. The 'Birmingham girl', as it describes her in your photo caption, was, I think, Debra who might have been one of Bernard Dawson's pupils at the time."

Taking the baulk back to the bedrock

A 1980 slide from Dr Ferris's collection: when he and I were examining this digitised version a few weeks ago, he said he couldn't initially work out what I was doing - not an unusual conundrum about my behaviour, especially in those days - but then he realised the picture was taken just as I started stripping the baulk back to bedrock. I'm sure he's right: it was a cutting Iain was supervising - N7 - so I'll take his word for it and suggest that I was dutifully doing whatever my esteemed supervisor had asked me to do.  He must have taken this picture not long after I took this one which was posted on the blog in August.  

The trousers that I am sporting I, alas, no longer possess: a pair of cavalry dress trousers that were acquired in the Cheltenham Oxfam shop for a trifling sum. I think it was the red stripe down the sides that made them simply irresistible as digging regalia.  I'm also wearing a waistcoat from the same source. At the corner of the cutting, just above the pit that was F3833, Jane Fitt records some finds.  Phil's photographic paraphernalia, I seemed to recall, were kept in the box sitting by the wheelbarrow.

Lunchtime portraits from 1983 by Jim Irvine

Here's Jane Fitt (now Lambert) ...

... and  Nina Stoyan, enjoying her lunchtime sandwich.

Another lashing, this time from beyond the seas ...

"Dear C-H-M,

Many, many years ago my friend and I obtained copies of a book which seemed harmless enough, even quite amusing, at the time. But now I've found out that may not be the case, and my copy is in storage. I've checked the official list of items prohibited for storage by my employer and pornography, propaganda, subversive material or items of great value are not permitted.  What should I do?

Worried of Little Britain"

Dear Worried,

I must unmask you, I'm afraid, and remind you that you told me you were running adult literacy centres for the Army in Cyprus. Surely your duty is clear: book it out of storage and use it as course - should that be coarse - material for our boys? The all-action boddice-ripping yarn packed with fighting will surely appeal to their puckish sense of fun?

C-H-M.

Happy New Year! Even if it's a trifle chilly ...

Happy New Year to everyone. In London, it's distinctly "wrap-up-well-&-stay-snuggled-with-a-book" weather unless you are one of those hearty types who get a buzz from breaking the ice before going swimming. Which I'm not. Any more. Stood under a Lake District waterfall one New Year's Day - probably 1984 near Buttermere - and it was as startling as you might expect. 

From what I can tell by examining the weather maps of the world, my North American readers may well be shivering as well and the only person who's a regular reader of the blog who's got much of a chance of even some warmth today is probably Jane Lambert (nee Fitt) in Cyprus.  

So to remind us of what a warm day can feel like, here's a 1977 Crickley lunch break view of the Management sheltering from the blazing hot sun.  L to R Toni Webb, Terry Courtney, ? Carole Anderson, Philip Dixon, Robin Hall, ?, ?, Mike Webb in bandana.

CH 1983: this lot have been working rather hard ...

This picture from the Phillpotts 1983 archive shows virtuous exhaustion at its best: L to R Jane Fitt, Steve Vaughan, John Gale and Julie Fissenden. Come on , drag yourselves to your feet, pick up those buckets and get back to work ... Must have been pretty warm as well if it was necessary to have the finds hut window open.

Another dig party - this time 1980 ...

I posted a photo of Jane Lambert (nee Fitt) here the other day.  Jane replies from Cyprus where she's now living: "I can't remember exactly how I earnt a "well deserved rest", the 1979/1980 seasons are kind of blurred together in my memory. Was it something to do with the pit? Or was it when I'd found a leaf arrowhead, no - I think that was 1979?

I did actually work in archaeology (as an archaeobotanist) until 1990, mostly in Rome but also on another Nottingham University project in Bulgaria for a couple of seasons. Several career changes later I'm running adult literacy centres for the army (well, it does help if they can read what's on the ammunition cases....)"

Wonderful to hear from you, Jane: here's another photo of you, this time with Maryam Ghaffari, Julie Ann Morrison (nee Souter), Jim Gale and Training at a dorm party in 1980.

Watching the workers ...

It may just be the timing of Dr Philpotts's snapping, but five standing watching and two doing the work in F3351 is an unusual Crickley view. Jane Fitt in the red shirt and an unidentified person, whose rear in pink trousers can be seen, get credit for doing the work whilst Marion Barter, Julian Parker, Penny Hart (then Griffiths) inspect from the baulk and PWD and Ros Cleal from the cutting. I'll maintain the fiction that I'd just emptied the wheelbarrow, the handles of which are behind me!

A finer architectural shot of the Courtney Memorial Platform can scarcely be imagined: this was 1979, when it was newly built: all that remains of it now is the scar on the rampart where the grass grew not for nearly 30 years. When I was on the top where the platform is a few weeks ago you could see large quantities of red and pink burnt limestone on the top surface of the rampart where the platform once stood.

Jane Fitt having a well earned rest ...

Jim Irvine tells me that Jane Fitt lives in Cyprus now so if you come across the blog, by any chance, Jane, here's a photo of you during a break in the 1980 season and I trust you're very well. Suspect that the sleeve on the right belongs to Julie Ann Souter. The glasses in the foreground look suspiciously like mine.

Teabreak 1980 ...

Transcribed from the Phillpotts album for the 1980 season: L to R: Julie Ann Souter, Jane Fitt, Bernie Dawson, Maryam Ghaffari, John Boden, Robert Roberts, Claude, Elsa Charlot, Arnelle, Marine, with Rebecca Chambers, Cara, Anne and Debby Durham in the background